630 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1701. 



levels. Hence it is, that in all these groLintls are found great numbers of trees 

 that are burned, some in two, and some lengthwise, others hewn ami chopped. 

 Hence it is, that they lie near their own roots, with their tops north east. 

 Hence it is that some of the greatest trees are found with their roots on, and 

 others as they have laid all along have had branches growing out of their sides, 

 to the thickness and height of considerable trees. Hence it is that both the 

 clay and moor soil of the country, is in some places 2 or 3 yards higher than it 

 was formerly, by the growing up of the same, and the daily warp that the rivers 

 continually cast thereon, &c. 



But to return ; as the Romans were the destroyers of this great forest, so 

 were they likewise of all those others that formerly grew on the low countries 

 of Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Staftbrdshire, Somersetshire, 

 &c. and also of the very countries before-mentioned beyond sea, where such 

 like trees are found. But as the Romans were not much in Wales, the Isle of 

 Man, nor Ireland, so it cannot be supposed that they cut down their woods; 

 but yet others did : for Hollinshed and others of our historians tell us, that 

 Edward the First not being able to get near the Welsh to fight them, by their 

 continuance and skulking in boggy woods, commanded them all to be destroyed 

 by fire and the axe : and I doubt not at all but that the roots and trees, before- 

 mentioned by Cambrensis in Pembrokeshire, were the relics of some of those 

 that were then destroyed : and as for those in Man and other islands, they have 

 all been cut down in time of war, and have lain till they werp grown over with 

 the soil of the neighbouring grounds : and as for those that are found in the 

 bogs of Ireland, several of our historians expressly say, that Henry the Second, 

 when he conquered it, cut down all the woods that grew on the low countries 

 there, the better to secure his conquest and possession of it, to keep the 

 country in a settled peace, and to disarm the enemy, who commonly trusting to 

 such advantages are apt to rebel. I will only add, that it is a very common 

 thing for generals and armies, even to this very day, to destroy all the woods 

 that grow upon advantageous places, and fastnesses, in an enemy's country, if 

 they intend to keep it; and that they always do it with fire and axe. 



Concerning a Child who had its Intestines, Mesentery, &c. in the Cavity of the 

 Thorax ; and a further Account of the Person said to have swallowed Stones, 

 in N° 253 of these Transactions. By Sir Charles Holt. N° 275, p. 992. 



This child having died at about 2 months old, they gave the following ac- 

 count of its sickness : That it was uneasy and restless from its birth, and con- 

 stantly laboured under a difficulty of breathing : that its illness was nothing 



